Tread Softly
by Dracling
Summary: Memories are like transient dreams into past pain, and a certain masked jounin is reliving them again and again. Sasuke tells Kakashi before he leaves...why. One last time.


**_Sorry guys, this isn't an update, though one might come soon. It's an edited version, because the perfectionist in me desires to create something worthy for you all to read. _**

**Tread Softly**

Kakashi exhaled slowly, breath materializing in thin wisps. His mask was off, allowing the cool night air to bat across his heated face. The jounin leaned his head against a kunai-callused palm, scars beneath scars knotting and trembling. His room was still with only the breathy rustle of curtain in the wind.

_"Eh? What do you mean, idiot?" A familiar blond head was bobbing up and down impatiently, chopsticks pointing accusingly. "That's my ramen! Mine!"_

_"Naruto!" A deceitfully petite hand whapped across the boy's face, sending him face first into the counter. A frighteningly livid Sakura loomed behind. "Don't you dare point at Sasuke-kun!"_

_"Maa, maa." Kakashi pleaded, nervously waving a hand. "Let's all enjoy lunch before we do our mission, ne?"_

_"Keh. Again?" A faceless boy was sitting to his right. Kakashi turned to him, feeling the rumble of laughter in his chest. He is…a shadow of a smile?_

_"Hai, Sasuke." _

_The day was warm._

"I'm slipping away." Kakashi murmured, long digits tracing the contours of his face. It brushed the long, closed eyelashes, across fluttering skin, and down, down a departing gift someone had once given him. A long lost friend.

_"Kakashi!" Obito's scream tore through the musky air, piercing Rin's muffled sobs. A bloodied hand clenched Kakashi's flak jacket, unrelenting. Strong. Kakashi's own face quivered._

_"Shut up." Kakashi choked out, tearing away. "You just fucking rest. Fucking rest."_

_"You idiot." Through the blurring dust Kakashi's eye saw the careless grin. Buried. "You're crying."_

_In the air Rin's keening wail rose and fell._

"Idiot." Kakashi echoed, clenching his fist. He pressed hard against his mouth, biting down to ease the dull pain. The taste of copper was his relief. "Don't cry, idiot. Idiot…idiot."

_Familiar hands moved through the jutsus with rapid formality, blurring in the fogged air. Kakashi panted, gray eyes sharp._

_"Good, good." A deep voice said. "You're improving."_

_The white haired boy hesitantly smiled at the towering figure. His shoulders relaxed with the feel of a rough hand._

_"Where did you learn that?" A face with too many lines in the eyes looked vaguely to the sky. _

_The smile faltered, a too young butterfly. "You taught it to me, Father."_

_"Oh…" Was the sad reply. "I don't remember."_

The jounin shook his head, lanky legs retracting and stiffening. A whisper of quiet clothing, a fumble in the darkness, and the flicker lit a stark brillance to the glowing white stick in his mouth. Kakashi inhaled sharply, a chilled sweat cooling on his face. His back caved with relief against the wall. Only lazy tendrils were his breath now.

"I didn't know you did that, Kakashi-sensei."

"_You…" A cold voice bit across his ears. "I will defeat you."_

Kakashi let the cigarette dangle in his mouth. A shadow removed itself from the gloom, eyes bright and knowing.

"Sasuke." Kakashi looked at the traces of littered clothing under his feet; the feel of paint was rough against his naked back. "You've made your decision."

A silence stretched in the too quiet room, a hollowness unyielding. Dull gray blended with the smoke, unreflected by a softly mocking smile.

"I want you to know-" The voice was abrupt, and quick. "Before I leave."

"Thank you."

Sasuke paused, hands flying uncertainly before settling. He snorted. "Thank you? What the hell does _that_ mean?"

"It means what it means."

"Don't give me that!" Sasuke stepped forward, brilliant red blazing. "Not here. Not now."

No answer came back- only muteness. Sasuke shifted again.

"When I first saw that eye." He said suddenly. "That is when it started."

The curtain gave a swift billow, as if suddenly weary. The outline he spoke to made no reply.

"When I saw that…I was reminded." Sasuke moved towards the window, obsidan locks brushing against the wooden sill. He looked fiercely at the motionless figure, wreathed in smoke. "I was reminded of that man I vowed to kill."

"When you saw the sharingan?"

"Yes."

Kakashi barked out harsh laughter, face still hidden. "You would abandon your village for hate?"

"No." Sasuke said quietly. "When I saw your sharingan I felt hope."

"In vengeance."

"In family!" Sasuke turned furiously, eyes wide on his pale face. "I saw the hope that for once I could have what that man had denied me! I saw those memories, memories that hurt but made me so happy I wanted to die! Do you know that? Do you know that I loved you for that hope? I thought that- I thought that-"

"_Kakashi!"_

"_Kakashi-sensei!"_

"_Otou-san…"_

"_You…are the same."_

Ragged breathes filled the air now, rebuking the quiet. Sasuke stood with his legs braced against the ground, eyes turned towards the new moon's shadows. He grinned a feral defiance, baring white teeth at the invisible stars.

"I am an idiot." He laughed, facing towards his teacher for one last time. A slow trickle made its unhindered way down Sasuke's smiling face. "Do you understand?"

And the whirlwind dispersal of smoke was what he saw, a bittersweet scent of pine and salt was what he smelled and that crushing embrace was what Sasuke felt.

"Yes." A breath, cool and slow, came treading softly. "I understand."

"_You are like me." _

_The face-less boy was there again, glaring at him with those eyes. Eyes that were clearer than his._

"_You can't hide! Even with smoke in your eyes."_

_Kakashi opened his gray to the brilliant sunshine._

"_You are like me."_

-TE-

**Mood: "Last Song"- Gackt**


End file.
